Regeneration
by Benjamin J Brown
Summary: SPOILER ALERT. Features an altered regeneration from "The End of Time", and details of the episode. AU. Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Doctor Who or any of the characters or ideas therein, and all such things are property of their respective owners.
1. A Cataclysmic End

The Doctor struggled to get back into the TARDIS. He'd absorbed half a million rads in a chamber made of vinvotchi glass to save Wilf. That had been three hours ago. Now, he was at New Year 's Day 2005, having just seen Rose for the last time.

The last time that he, his tenth incarnation, would see her. He didn't know what the future might hold, but whoever next left the TARDIS, it wouldn't be him. It would be the Doctor, but not _that_ Doctor.

He looked at his hand and saw the glow. He'd been holding off his regeneration for the last three hours, and had wondered when he had fallen in the snow moments earlier if he would get up. But there he was, standing in his TARDIS. He threw his large brown coat aside and looked at his hand once more as he started the TARDIS' flight.

The glow had faded slightly, but was still present. He looked at his other hand and saw the same, light glow, alternating shades of orange, gold and green. He could see it lightly forming in front of his eyes. He stepped away from the console held his arms out in front of him and slightly to his sides so he could see them.

He felt tears welling up in his eyes. He didn't want to die, and he knew that was what was happening. Sure, the Doctor would live on but he wouldn't be the same man. _He_ would die.

"I don't wanna go." He said lightly to himself through the tears, before his arms shot out to his sides rigidly and his neck snapped up so he was facing the ceiling as the energy grew brilliant and blasted off from his head and arms.

Around him, the TARDIS control room was collapsing and exploding as the energy from his regeneration and the radiation flew off. A pillar came down, narrowly missing him, the control panel itself exploded and flames erupted from multiple points in the floor.

Meanwhile, his features had began to distort, slowly shifting from his own face to a younger one. His hair shifted with it, growing longer and becoming black as the fringe finished growing into place. He clamped his eyes shut in pain as his body finished going into it's new form before he screamed as the energy finished leaving him, with him having a somewhat dumbfounded expression.

He looked at his hands, then bending down slightly to check his legs. He slapped his torso, checking it was all in order before proceeding to feel his face and hair.

"Right, got all limbs, all fingers, presumably all toes, ears, nose, eyes, oh good, I still have eyebrows. Oh, and a mouth, so glad I have that. And a chin, oh god, it's so eugh." He said, before pulling his fringe down to look at his hair colour "Oh, and nice long hair. Shame, it's still not ginger!"

As he said that, he heard the console sparking behind him and was suddenly painfully aware of the damage in the TARDIS. He dashed over to the console, dodging flames as he did. He began playing with the controls and hitting the console when it didn't work.

"Damn it, nothing I can do, this is useless!" He said, trying more controls and hitting things as they failed to work "Nothing works! I'm going to crash!"

He looked at the column in the centre of the room as it sped up during the descent.

"Oh god, this is going to hurt." He said to himself as there was an almighty crash when the TARDIS hit the surface of the planet, sending him crashing to the deck, picking himself up when he had finished rubbing his back where he had hit it during the fall, saying to himself "Knew that'd hurt."

He looked at the TARDIS control room. The flames had died out, but the console was still sending off the occasional shower of sparks. He moved over to the screen on the other side of the central column and looked at it.

"Well that's not good." He said, reading what was on the screen "I need to find a way to fix those zeiton crystals. So long as they're fried, I can't do anything. May as well have had one of those warp core breach things they always go on about on Star Trek."

He put his hands in his pockets and moved towards the TARDIS door, opening the door and stepping outside.


	2. A New Friend

The Doctor looked around the immediate area around the TARDIS. Something didn't feel right. He couldn't tell exactly what it was, but something there was very wrong. It was like he'd arrived somewhere that was meant to be different.

He moved his hand to his head, nursing the pain it was causing in his head. When he moved it away, he saw a young woman looking at him quizzically. She came over to him, obviously trying to keep her distance.

"Are you Okay?" She said to him.

"Yeah, just got a bit of a headache." He said "Sorry, this is going to sound really weird, but where am I?"

"Have you been drinking?" She said, moving away slightly.

"No, just, uh, I don't remember anything." He said.

"Oh, you poor thing." She said, smiling kindly at him before moving over to him, apparently having decided he was no threat to her without his memory "Do you remember your name, or is that gone too?"

"Uh, I think so." He said, deciding to continue to feign his memory loss "I'm The Doctor."

She looked at him, taken aback by this statement. Then she burst out laughing.

"It's okay, you don't have to come up with a fancy title just because you don't remember your name." She said "You're in London. Listen, I work at a local police station. If you like, I can take you there and we can see what we can dig out."

"Okay, though can I ask you one more question?" He said, before laughing "Other than that one."

"Sure, go ahead." She said, smiling and gently nudging to try and guide him away in the direction of the slightly more built up area.

"What's your name?" He said "I figure I may not have any memory, but if you're willing to help me, the least I can do is ask your name."

"Amy." She said "Amy Pond."

"Well then Amy, lead the way." He said.

They began walking off and Amy gave him all these questions, asking if he remembered any people or where he was from or how old he was. According to her, he looked to be in his early to mid twenties, and wasn't the best looking guy in the world, but by no means the worst. He supposed that she figured telling a man with no memory that wouldn't be any harm and might make him feel better.

As they reached the police station, she held and arm out in front of her.

"Please, after you." She said while smiling at him as he went in before following him to the front desk and saying to the woman behind it "Hi Janine."

"Hey Amy." Janine replied "Isn't it meant to be your day off today?"

"Yeah, it is." She said, with a slight hint of a sour note to it "But I met this guy out in the green. Claims he has no memory. Thought we could help him."

"Had to make sure you did your good deed for the day." Janine replied, before adding quietly with a chuckle "And him being alright looking just happens to be a bonus I guess."

"Why's that then?" The Doctor said, speaking up at last.

The two women looked at him flabbergasted by his apparent naivety over their conversation, but decided rather than explaining it, just exchanging a knowing look would suffice.

"OK then love." Janine said to The Doctor "Just take a seat over there and I'll get someone to help you."

She turned back to Amy.

"If you like, I can take care of him from here on out." She said with a smile "No need for you to miss out on all your day off."

"No, it's fine." Amy said "I'll check him out."

She stood there for a moment before her eyes widened with horror at what she had said.

"I mean on the system." She said quickly, covering her face as she turned bright red.

"I bet you do." Janine said with a wink as she walked off.

Amy turned back to The Doctor, now looking at the wall with all the notices on it, apparently reading them one at a time.

"Doctor, come on." She said, moving toward the door and gesturing for him to follow, adding when he caught up "Let's go see if we can find anything out about what's going on here."


	3. Impossible

The Doctor stood facing a wall, reading all the notices as Amy scanned through the computer database. He moved over to her, bending over slightly and using his hand to steady himself on the chair as he peered over her shoulder.

"Anyone in there who looks like me?" He said, already knowing the answer but figuring he could use whatever she found in the system to help him figure out what was wrong.

Then he saw it.

"Hold on, go back to number 47384." He said, with her complying "That's impossible."

He looked at the picture in disbelief. It didn't seem possible. He was staring at Miss. Hartigan who he'd met in the 19th century.

"I know that woman." He said, looking at Amy "But it's not possible. She's dead."

"Well, much as I love to see you're apparently getting your memory back, she looks alive and well to me." Amy replied to him "How do you know her?"

"What year is it?" The Doctor said, worried.

"2010." She said, looking at his face "Okay, I'm starting to think you do have your memory. Who are you, really?"

"I told you, I'm the Doctor." He said "And that woman in that picture is meant to be dead."

"And how would you know that?" Amy said, slowly getting up and moving to the door "Did you kill her?"

"No, someone else did that before I even met her." He said "She lived in the 19th century. There were these things, these Cybermen, like the ones that came from those ghosts a few years back. They killed her so she could be their leader. And if she's back, we're in trouble."

"Why's that then?" She said, not believing him but deciding if he was insane, it was better to humour him.

He began to pace around the room, obviously trying to think of a good way to explain whatever it was he was about to say. Eventually, he turned to face her, hands by his sides.

"I trapped her, well, what was left of her, in the time vortex. It's this rip in the fabric of time and space." He said "It lets things travel between different places in space and time, provided you can get into it. She was in there with an army of Cybermen. I thought that would stop them, but apparently not. And I know why."

Amy just sat there looking at him like he was insane, which she would've had to admit, she did, as he continued.

"See, recently, I had this thing go on, with someone called the Master." He said "He-"

"Hold on, I'm going to stop you there." She said, holding a hand up to ensure he understood "What kind of a person calls themselves the Master?"

"Well, exactly." The Doctor said, before looking at her "It's an abbreviation. He likes to think of himself as Master of all or Master of time and space."

"OK then, I have to ask, who the hell are you?" She said, asking him for the third time.

"You sure you want to know? You're absolutely certain?" He said, with her slowly nodding before he continued "I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Casterberus. I am 906 years old, and, if you're lucky, I'm going to be the man to stop the Cybermen and save the Earth."

She looked at him dumbfounded. It was more or less the reaction he had expected; the same one as he had got when he used more or less the same speech on the space liner _Titanic_.

"So, just to clarify, that woman's from another time, you're an alien, and these Cybermen, they're, what, robots?" She said.

"If only." He said with a dark look on his face "The Cybermen are from another reality. They're worse than robots. They're mechanical, sure, but way worse than robots. They _were_ people, but that was before the Cybermen caught them. Now, they've had their brains placed into mechanical bodies and all emotions removed. They live to turn everything else into Cybermen."

"What, no alternatives?" She asked him.

"Oh, there are." He said "The other option is for them to delete you. And by that I mean, well,-"

"Kill us." She said quietly "And this woman, she'll have them do that?"

He nodded sombrely. She looked at him, puzzled. How did he know all this? It wasn't really possible he was an alien, was it? He looked so... Human.

"Anyway, thanks very much for your help." He said to her, shaking her hand before going to walk out.

"Hold on Doctor." She said, getting up and jogging to catch up to him "I'm coming with you."

"Oh no, it's way too dangerous." He replied

"You're going aren't you?" She said.

"Yeah but-"

"And I've had training, so let's go." She finished "We're going to deal with them now then you can explain all this to me."


	4. They're all gone again

The metal figure moved mechanically through the large underground corridor. It halted then turned to its right before moving again. It ceased moving at the end of the corridor, having entered a large spherical chamber. In the centre, sat a woman wearing what appeared to be a battle armour, with the handles on the helmet resembling the handles on the head of the mechanical figure.

"Do you bring news?" She said, her voice cold.

"Yes." The Cyberman said "Our scouts report detection of The Doctor's TARDIS. He is here."

"Oh, excellent." She said, smiling lightly "Now we can make him pay for trapping us. He thought we would be disintegrated harmlessly, oh how wrong he was."

"What is your command?" The Cyberman asked, it's mechanical tone unwavering.

"Find the Doctor." She said "And delete him!"

* * *

The Doctor walked down the street, with Amy just about keeping pace. He had been power walking half of the time they had been walking since leaving the police station. She was beginning to tire out and he, apparently, was not.

"Doctor, stop." She said, finally stopping herself and looking at his almost patronising expression "Some of us _are_ Human you know."

"You say that like you think it makes you weaker than me." He said to her, leaning up against a wall "On the contrary, you're all brilliant. There are days I envy you."

"Really?" She said, looking dumbfounded but her tone sarcastic "I never would've guessed that by the outfit."

"Oh, you mean this old thing?" He said, realising he was still wearing his previous incarnation's suit "I just haven't had time to change yet. Must find some time to do that."

"Right..." She said "Anyway, tell me, what kind of thing did you have go on with that guy, the Master?"

"Nothing like what you're thinking." He said, noting the inquisitive tone "He and I used to be friends, a long time ago, lifetimes, actually."

"What happened?" She asked.

"Don't worry." He said "The point is, he's gone now. They all are."

"Who are?" Amy said, confused.

"The time lords." He replied coldly "I mean, they've been dead for a long time. But they came back. And now they're dead, all over again."

"What do you mean?" She asked him "How can they be dead all over again?"

The Doctor moved away from the wall, patting down his backside to get the dust off it. He ran his fingers through his long black fringe and hair, before looking at her.

"Don't worry about it." He said "Let's go."

They walked off, not noticing the woman with a Bluetooth headset following them.

After about 20 minutes, the Doctor turned down a corner suddenly, pulling Amy with him. He pulled her to him and kissed her, watching the woman walk by before letting her go.

"How dare you!" She said, slapping him round the face "Now, do that again..."

"Sorry, and owww." He said, rubbing his face "I just noticed that woman was following us."

"And?" She asked, still half hoping he would kiss her again.

"And she was wearing a earpiece." The Doctor replied "It's a technique I've seen the Cybermen use to control people before. Well, not exactly control them, more like partly convert them so they're completely submissive to the Cybermen. Makes it easier when they're going to be properly converted."

"Oh, very good." A voice said from behind them.

The Doctor and Amy turned around to see a man. He wore an earpiece as well.

"I'm taking it by the earpiece you work for the Cybermen." The Doctor said to the man, putting his hands in his pockets.

"And I'm taking it by that statement that you're the one we're looking for." The man said "Now, Doctor, are you going to come with me or am I going to have to get my friends to force you to come."

"I only have one thing to say." The Doctor said, pulling his hands out of his pockets and grabbing Amy's hand, spinning himself and her around before saying "Amy, run for your life!"

The pair sprinted off, away from the man, who simply stood there. Amy looked back, seeing he was not giving chase. She began to slow up, with the Doctor looking back and almost pulling her along, before the metal arm clothes lined the pair of them.


	5. The Doctor is in!

The Doctor came to in a cell. He'd been put in one opposite Amy. For the Cybermen, the operation seemed a little low tech. He moved over to where Amy was. She was still breathing, that was a good start. He looked at the watch on his wrist. He'd only been out for about an hour. It was times likes those he was glad he was still early in his regeneration cycle; it meant he wasn't going to get the major headache he would've done otherwise.

"Amy? Wake up Amy." He said, shaking her lightly, smiling at her as she slowly came to "Hello there gingey. You feeling okay?"

"_Don't_ call me gingey." Amy replied simply, before looking around "Where are we?"

"You're in my home." A female voice said, causing the pair in the cell to turn around to see a dark haired woman in a red dress with the man and woman from earlier and two Cybermen behind her "And the home of the Cybermen, and my minions. I believe you met them."

"Yes, well, I have a question." The Doctor said "What's with the low tech? It can't be a desire to go unnoticed, or you wouldn't have sent the Cybermen to get us. So, Miss. Hartigan, what's up with it?"

"We have insufficient resources." Hartigan said "But now we have access to the ultimate resource; your TARDIS!"

"No, that's one thing I can't give you." The Doctor said "It's kind of… broken right now."

"You will bring it here!" Hartigan said "Or I will kill your friend."

The Doctor ran his hand through his hair as he paced the cell for a moment, before glaring at Hartigan.

"Fine, but I'll need my screwdriver. That device I had with the blue light." He said "It acts as the remote control."

"Give it to him." Hartigan said, with the woman behind her nodding and withdrawing the sonic screwdriver from her pocket and passing it to the Doctor through the bars.

"Thank you." The Doctor said, beginning to play with the dial on the bottom of the screwdriver before pointing it forward "Now, I'd move if I were you."

"Doctor, if that were a weapon, you would _not_ be holding it now." Hartigan said "It's just an extravagant lighting device."

"Well, that depends on what you plan on using it against." The Doctor replied "See, it can manipulate, or destroy, machines and the Cybermen are machines."

As he said that, he slid the top section out and pressed the button, causing the light to come on as the screwdriver whirred. As it did, the Cybermen began to go into some kind of fit, as did the two people behind Hartigan.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said "But you put me in this position. You trapped me. And the one thing you should always remember if nothing else, the one thing you should never put in a trap if you value your continued existence, is me."

As he said that, the two people finally collapsed, breathing shallowly as the Cybermen's heads exploded. The Doctor played with the controls on the screw driver then pointed it at the lock and pressed the button, causing it to open. He stepped out and moved towards Hartigan.

"Now miss. Hartigan, you're going to stand trial for what you've done." The Doctor said "I'm taking you to the shadow proclamation. They'll try you by galactic law and you'll be dealt with accordingly."

"If I'm going to die, I'll die by my own hand!" Hartigan spat "But before I do, you should know, your days are numbered, Doctor. I've seen your future. He's coming back, with his army of your nightmares, and he will not rest until you die."

With that, and before the Doctor could reach her, she pulled a small gun looking device, pointed it at herself and fired, disintegrating her instantly as the Doctor went to run to stop her, wanting to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and find out what she'd meant. He turned to Amy, who stood there in shock.

"You okay?" He said, not seeing any reaction, so he repeated "I said are you okay?"

"S-she shot herself." Amy said, ignoring his question "You cornered her and threatened her with arrest so she shot herself…"

"Wish I could say that was the first time it'd happened, but it isn't." The Doctor said, moving to the cell and holding out his hand "You coming?"

"Where?" Amy asked.

"Away from here." He replied, before grinning "Then, I guess you could always come with me if you like."

"Where are you going?" She asked, curious.

"Wherever you want." He said "See, I have everything open to me, the whole of time and space, I can go anywhere, any when. You interested?"

"I'd be lying if I said it doesn't sound interesting." She replied "But I find it unlikely you've got that."

"Unlikely eh?" He said "I eat unlikely and spit it out for breakfast. Follow me and I'll show you."

* * *

When they reached the TARDIS, the Doctor got the key out and put it in the lock. He turned it, and opened the door, grinning.

"You'll have to excuse my shock." He said "It's just finished with the redecorating."

"Redecorating?" Amy said, confused "What do you mean?"

"See for yourself." He said, throwing the doors open.

Amy was shocked. Inside the little blue wooden box was an entire world!

It was quite high tech, having metallic walls with indentations. There were three spiral staircases leading up and out of the room at different points. There were also metal railings around a central control console, the console going around a large cylindrical structure at the centre of the room with a raindrop like structure in the middle. To top it off, there was a screen by the console and a chair on the opposite side.

The Doctor moved over to the controls and began pressing buttons. He looked at her and grinned.

"So, anything you notice?" He said "Anything catch your eye? Anything you want to say? I've heard everything."

"It-it-it's bigger on the inside…" She said.

"That being the most common of them." He replied, the grin constant "So, fancy coming along for the ride? The first trip's free, if you like it, then you can subscribe for the all expenses paid trip everywhere and any where."

"Fine." She said, with him replying by throwing a switch, causing the drop-like structure to start moving up and down as there was a large roaring.

"Good." He said, moving towards one of the staircases and going up and calling back from the next room "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get changed. Something to go with the new me."


End file.
